Re: [tied] Re: OE *picga

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 16524
Date: 2002-10-25

 
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Wordingham
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 11:56 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: OE *picga

> I wasn't arguing against the gemination; it was the phonation variation that interested me.  I would have expected a phonation shift to produce a less marked (= easier?) form, and thus not see a voiced geminate plosive from a voiceless plosive.
 
That's the preferred direction in natural phonetic processes, but expressive word formation is a special phenomenon; it doesn't consist in phonetic erosion only (most obviously, adding a diminutive suffix is a form of reinforcement). In mediaeval German name a different (and perhaps more "natural") phonation shift was common: Sigifrid, Sigimar > Sicco, Eberhard > Eppe, Odemund > Otto (alongside Odo), etc.
 
Piotr